Review: Jam!

It looks like strawberry, rather than blackberry.

Jam! is the latest in the line of 'keep the thing from hitting the ground' games. You know it's an exciting addition because it has an exclamation point at the end.
Graphics:
Fairly minimal, but well-drawn and appropriate to the genre. The designs it uses for the glass and wood blocks are pretty much standard at this point.

The lone background fits in fairly well with the whole falling jam jar aesthetic, and the colour scheme is very light and grandmotherly. I think the best word to describe it is 'pleasant'. It's a pleasant game to look at.

Even the instructions are pleasant.

Sound:
Again, fairly minimal. The effects consist of a button click and the sound of breaking glass. Both are understated and calm. Seriously, it's the calmest glass break you'll ever hear. The music is a single track on an infinite loop. It's appropriately light and jovial, and I didn't get tired of it in the time it took me to finish the game. However, it is a tad loud.

Both the music and sound effects can be turned off independently, which is always a plus.

Gameplay:
You've probably played similar games before. A thing (in this case a jam jar, but I've also seen balls, boxes, and a piece of cheese) is sitting on a tower of blocks. Some of those blocks can be destroyed with a tap. The object of each level is to destroy all the destructible blocks and keep the jam jar off the ground. The jar is oblong rather than perfectly symmetrical, but it doesn't seem to affect its movement much.

Sometimes the levels aren't static when you begin, so reproducing your exact steps from a previous attempt can be tricky. Overall, there doesn't seem to be as much of a puzzle element to Jam! as there is to other games of this type. It seems to be less about skill and brain power, and more about luck.

There might be a way to think your way through this, but I couldn't do it.

What I liked:
-Simple gameplay.
-Blocks seem to respond relatively well to taps.

I finished all 16 levels. Go me!

What I hated:
-Short. More levels are coming soon, though.
-Only one music track. It was nice, but I would've liked a bit more variety.
-A couple bugs.

The glass block on the left wouldn't respond to taps, but it didn't stop me from completing the level.

Final Verdict:
Jam! isn't particularly innovative, but it's a fine example of its genre. It's a bit on the short side (I finished all 16 levels in about 20 minutes), and like most games of this type it relies a bit too much on luck. But, if you enjoy this sort of game, and it comes out with a 50-level upgrade, I can't see why you wouldn't drop a dollar on it.

Jam! is available for free (with paid upgrades coming soon!) from Oleksii Kulagin on BlackBerry App World.
Reviewed version 1.0